THE ageing toilets in Guildhall Square in Tavistock were this week permanently closed to the public. West Devon Borough Council?s director for the environment, Nick Payne, said the action was taken because any significant rain, such as had been experienced this week, made the electrics ?extremely dangerous?. ?We kept them going through the summer and tried to maintain facilities for the visitors, but we have reached the point where we cannot sustain that any more. Now we must look to the future,? he said. Following the failure of the grant application for a new visitor centre and replacement toilets, new toilets in the square are now a stand-alone scheme and meetings are under way to redefine the initial plans. ?The borough council is looking to work with the town council to refurbish the toilets on the existing footprint and within the budget of £150,000 which the two councils have committed to,? Mr Payne said. The new scheme would be ?very different? to that in the failed bid, he added. The borough was trying to make the best use of the other facilities in the town, but he was concerned over the deployment of temporary facilities on the site. ?If we spend a lot of money on that it will eat away at the funding for the permanent facilities,? he said. The matter is due to be discussed with the town council shortly.